What is horse culatta leather?
Different types of leather
Vegetable tanned horse culatta leather is my favorite material to work with. It's flexible, strong, has a particular gummy elasticity and both sides (flesh and grain) look gorgeous and can be used without lining.
On the picture above: Culatta double butt (reverse, flesh side) on top and a single shell of shell cordovan at the bottom. You can see the areas of a shell cordovan outline on the culatta by how it reflects the light.
Vegetable tanning is an important part of this, but sometimes other tanning processes are also required. Like aluminium aldehyde tanning for the dirty white culatta. I will write more on the tanning in another blog.
Culatta leather also comes mostly from horses. Anatomically only equine animals have the shell connective tissue in their butts. So probably donkey or zebra culatta is also technically possible, but there are not as many donkeys in the world. Because nobody is raising and killing horses for their leather, tanneries are more like recycling facilities; leather is a subproduct of other industries.
Culatta or shell cordovan?
So when I say culatta in 90% of cases it's already guaranteed that it's a vegetable tanned horse leather. And most probably from Italy. Culatta is an Italian word after all.
- Culatta means "something from a butt". Culo is an Italian word for ass. So culatta leather is a leather made from a rear of a horse. Historically this means a type of leather that shows on the reverse (flesh) side traces of shell cordovan.
- Shell cordovan on the other hand has Spanish origins, meaning shell leather from Córdoba (a city in Spain). It's a leather material made from a connective tissue deep under the reticular (suede) layer of leather. This leather is extra dense, doesn't wrinkle and has some other magical properties. Shell cordovan is one of the most expensive and unique leathers. And culatta is a full grain leather with traces of shell cordovan.
Of course there can be some misunderstanding in terminology. And different people can use it slightly differently. I've seen culatta leather being called "shell cordovan" even when it contains full grain leather and areas outside of the shell. Or when a regular butt leather is called culatta, without any traces of the shell. I'm using the following definitions of what to call different types of leather:
- Horse culatta — is a full grain leather that has some coating of shell cordovan on the flesh side.
- Split horse culatta — is a split (corium) leather with areas of shell cordovan coating on the flesh side.
- Shell cordovan — only the shell area, without corium/suede/grain leather. Made entirely from the cordovan layer.
Leather hide anatomy
See it's all about different layers in the hide and their properties. Let's try to describe these layers one by one:
- Full grain. It's the very top layer of the hide. If it's not corrected (pressed) you can see wrinkles, bites, scars on full grain leather. That's the reason expensive designer brands put a special note that all imperfections of the leather are there for a reason.
- Top grain. A layer a bit below the full grain. If the full grain is removed this becomes a corrected top grain leather. Sometimes an artificial leather pattern is embossed on it to emulate the full grain. It's still high quality, but less character.
- Grain-Corium connection. It's where the the grain part of the leather ends and the suede part begins. On some full grain leathers everything below is cut off, so you can have a cleaner reverse side.
- Suede/split/corium leather. When the high quality full or top grain leather is cut off we are left with deeper layers of suede fibers called corium. It can be called different names depending on the details: suede, split leather, genuine leather. Such leather can be heavily coated with a plastic finish and used in mass market leather goods, sneakers, etc. In case of a horse butt the corium layer is also much denser than bovine leather. Anatomically this is also called reticular layer.
- Culatta layer. This is a layer that separates shell from corium. It exists only above the shell. When these layers merge together a unique wrinkly pattern can be revealed with a precise cut through this layer.
- Shell cordovan. This layer comes after all the layers above it. But the shell cordovan layer is on another level of density. This leather is not wrinkly, it's so dense that it rolls instead of wrinkling. Plus you need special techniques and tanning process to bring out the best qualities of the shell.
See on this diagram: E,P is the grain part, R is the corium, CL is the shell cordovan layer.
So what is a horse culatta leather?
It's a leather that has all the layers from the top/full grain and down to the shell cordovan coating. It's unique because of a beautiful pattern on both sides of the leather, it's thick but flexible and very durable. Each cut and section of the culatta leather is very very different from each other. Due to the fact that the variety of the connection between shell cordovan and corium can be even more unusual and diverse than any full grain skin texture.
Check out wallets, bags and accessories from culatta leather that I've made here.
All of them are handmade and hand-stitched without machines or electricity, using traditional techniques like saddle stitching.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Some parts of culatta feel fluffy and some like they have a coating, why?
This coating are traces of shell cordovan and the connection between suede and shell. Only in the very center of both sides of a butt there's such area. The fluffy suede parts can be partially polished and burnished, or they will become smoother with age, similar to waxed nubuck leather.
Why the pretty wrinkly parts of my wallet are not shiny? And what's that white residue in the wrinkles?
This residue and dull shine is how the leather comes from a tannery. White spots are from remaining waxes and oils on the surface. I prefer when the shell wrinkly part of culatta polishes with age and develops patina from daily usage. Take a photo of your item and compare it in a couple of months or even better in a couple of years!
Why are you using the reverse side on the outside? I like the other side a lot more!
Well, tastes differ. I'm mesmerised by the texture of the reverse culatta. It's unique pattern and uneven surface are the most amazing qualities. For a smooth texture I can use other types of leather.
How should I care about culatta leather?
Usually it's already very rich in oils and doesn't require much care. Wallets will also absorb natural oils from your hands and will be conditioned just by regular use. But leather can be damaged if it's dried out, left in the sun or after soaking in water. Such accidents remove oils from the leather and you can apply some professional leather oils and cremes. But I would recommend not to use heavy waxes, use oils and conditioners that don't leave a coating. For cleaning use a very small amount of water and saddle soap. Remember to condition the leather after using saddle soap, because it drains and dries the oils.